Zohran Mamdani: The Model for the British Left

It’s a sunny morning in May, and instead of getting out of bed, washing my face, or doing anything even slightly productive, I submitted to the will of Mark Zuckerberg and opened Instagram Reels. A few (dozen) scrolls later, there is a break in the goofy memes and NBA edits: a man wearing a suit, a tie, and a massive grin was strolling across my screen, sharing some Islamophobic comments he had received due to being the “first Muslim elected official to ever run for mayor.’’ Interesting, I thought to myself, intrigued by the man’s light-heartedness, wit, and the volume of likes he received from my more politically aware friends. I didn’t linger, but over the next few weeks, the same man kept appearing. His wave of well-produced clips clarified his stance as a democratic socialist, promising rent freezes and free bus services to New Yorkers, all while wielding the same smile and charm that had caught my eye in that first

video. 

This was my introduction to Zohran Mamdani.

I had no way of knowing it, but over the next few months, Mamdani would go on to become the most talked-about name in politics. His victory over former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the June New York City Democratic mayoral primary established him as more than a novelty candidate: a serious contender. His campaign was narrow in focus but grand in scope, as his savvy social media team, a legion of volunteers, and an impressive return from small donations all helped neutralise, and even surpass, the advantage that his opponents had in funding and endorsements. On the 4th of November, Mamdani and his supporters’ efforts were rewarded, and now all eyes are on the future as the mayor-elect prepares for his transition into office.

Watching Mamdani’s meteoric rise to mayorship from the UK has been an exercise in enthusiasm, sure, but also envy. However, whilst no figure as charismatic as Mamdani has emerged in the fractured world of the UK Left, there have been signs of progress. The election of Zack Polanski as leader of the Green Party, the (messy) formation of Your Party, and the growing support for Manchester mayor Andy Burnham as an alternative leader of the Labour Party all signal an encouraging development. A politically competent left-wing seems to be emerging, an outcome more important than ever with the rise of the far-right party Reform UK.

Can Mamdani offer the blueprint for how left-wing candidates can find success in the modern political climate?

Well, it’s complicated.

For starters, it must be mentioned that Zohran Mamdani seems to be a once-in-a-generation political talent. He’s young, attractive, and charismatic, with few (if any) mishaps in his past or his personal life for an unsympathetic press to dredge up. Even President Trump, who months earlier was calling for Mamdani’s arrest, couldn’t help himself from fawning over the mayor-elect in their meeting at the White House earlier this month. To expect similar results from another politician would be unfair to say the least. 

But to say that Mamdani is just a pretty face with a silver tongue would be massively reductive. His campaign’s real strengths lie in its policy proposals and his ability to communicate them to the electoral middle ground, not just his base. As mentioned earlier, the Mamdani campaign had a narrow focus, and this surrounded a singular issue: affordability. Championing a solution to a challenge that the working people of New York (the most expensive city in the US) all agree on, Mamdani positioned his policies as common-sense resolutions to the cost-of-living crisis. This focus was vital in deflecting the many allegations of communism hurled at the Left. It is a truism in politics that winning elections is about the economy, and it’s easy to draw parallels between the cost-of-living crises that affect New Yorkers and Brits alike. Mamdani’s promises of easily identifiable, actionable policies are a far cry from those made by the Labour Party in the 2024 general election. Instead, their message could’ve easily been reduced to the same system under different management, a message as uninspiring as it is disappointing. With the amount of coverage given to the immigration debate – and the inevitably toxic and hateful discourse that it leads to – a renewed focus on the economy and novel ways to fix it would be a welcome sight in British politics, a strategy the Left could, and should, position itself to take advantage of. 

But it’s not enough to highlight affordability as the message that will engage voters the most. It was Mamdani’s relentless focus on the matter, managing to avoid distractions that would alienate more moderate voters, that propelled such a left-wing platform into office. There is a long list of injustices in the world that need to be addressed. A genocide in Gaza. Climate change. Racist rhetoric. And it is not only fair, but crucial, to ask our representatives to champion causes that seek to address these injustices and not turn a blind eye to them. But unfortunately, many voters don’t see these injustices as key issues that should concern candidates. Mamdani’s campaign understood that the difference between being an idealist and being in office was pragmatism, striking a balance between making his positions on these injustices clear, while still directing attention to affordability whenever possible. It is a tough lesson to learn, not least as suggesting that less oxygen should be given to causes that liberal and conservative politicians often ignore is understandably met with large degrees of scepticism. But it is a fatal flaw that has been the undoing of many previous incarnations of the British Left, notably Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour and the pre-Polanski Greens.

Mamdani is a unique politician, and his movement was specific to the New York ecosystem, the political climate of the USA today, and American culture in general. But the international aspect of left-wing politics and the shared cultural and political bonds between the US and the UK, as well as the viral nature of his campaign, have positioned the man as a model for progressives trying to emulate his success. Will our leftists take notes from their counterpart in the Big Apple? Perhaps. Indeed, much of Polanski’s recent social media campaign is eerily reminiscent of those early shorts I first saw in the summer. And after years of watching the far-right slowly but surely seep into politics and society, it finally feels like the tide might be starting to turn.

Words by Leo Barker, he/him